Automatic bobbin gate system



g- 1966 J. K. M COLLOUGH, JR 3,268,056

AUTOMATIC BOBBIN GATE SYSTEM 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 26, 1964 OJTO28 2 6 28 24 3O INVENTOR. 7 JOHN K. MCCOLLOUGH,JR. BY

ATTORNEY Aug. 23, 1966 J. K. M COLLOUGH, JR 3,268,056

AUTOMATIC BOBBIN GATE SYSTEM 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 26, 1964 FIG."2-

INVENTOR.

JOH N K. MCCOLLOUGH,JR BY Lam ATTORN EY 23, 1966 J. K. M COLLOUGH, JR3,268,056

AUTOMATIC BQBBIN GATE SYSTEM 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed June 26, 1964INVENTOR.

PHOTOCELL RELAY HLL HEB- L ilodyag TWA/ ic ATTORNEY United States PatentO 3,268,056 AUTOMATIC BOBBIN GATE SYSTEM John K. McCollough, Jr.,Spartanburg, S.C., assignor to Deering Milliken Research Corporation,Spartanburg, S.C., a corporation of Delaware Filed June 26, 1964, Ser.No. 378,099 14 Claims. (Cl. 19826) This invention relates generally tobobbin handling apparatus and more particularly to an improved system toautomatically transfer bobbins from a moving conveyor to a bobbintransfer apparatus and to automatically maintain a preselected supply ofbobbins in the bobbin transfer apparatus.

In recent years the textile industry has been developing and usingautomatic and semi-automatic bobbin dofling and donning apparatus fortextile processing machines such as spinning frames. In order to morefully automate such doffing and donning apparatus, it is desirable tohave a mechanized bobbin transfer arrangement for transferring bobbinsfrom a central source to a plurality of user stations, such as loadingstations for loading the empty supply bobbins onto the doffing anddonning apparatus. To effect such transfer efficiently, transfer conearrangements such as that shown in US. Patent No. 3,090,476, Sanders,May 21, 1963, have been employed to transfer the empty bobbins from aconveyor to a receiving belt at the loading station. To most efiicientlyuse such a system it is necessary to automatically maintain a constantsupply of bobbins in the chute which supplies bobbins from the conveyorto the transfer cone.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an automaticbobbin supply system in which the bobbin feed chute is automaticallysupplied bobbins from the bobbin supply point.

Another object of the invention is to provide an automatic articlehandling apparatus which automatically and efficiently maintains aconstant supply of articles in the feed system to an automatic transfermechanism.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a bobbin transfersystem in which the supply of bobbins in the feed mechanism to thetransfer apparatus is automatically controlled by the number of bobbinsin the feed mechanism.

Other objects and advantages will be clearly apparent as thespecification proceeds to describe the invention with reference to theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a schematic cross-sectional elevation view of the chute feedcontrol mechanism;

FIGURE 2 is a partial top view of the conveyor shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a cross-sectional elevation view taken on line 3-3 in FIGURE2;

FIGURE 4 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 44 in FIGURE 3; and

FIGURE 5 is a schematic control circuit showing the preferred controlcircuit for the bobbin feed control mechanism.

Looking now at the drawings and in particular to FIG- URE l, the generalarrangement of the herein disclosed apparatus is shown. Bobbins, quills,or the like B are delivered from a common supply source, such as ahopper or bin to an endless conveyor belt 12 traveling in the directionindicated by the arrows with the upper belt portion 14 supported on aplatform 16 and the lower belt portion 18 supported on the lowerplatform 20. The conveyor belt 12 delivers empty bobbins B to aplurality of discharge stations 22 in a manner generally similar to thatshown in copending application Serial No. 143,421, filed October 6,1961, now US. Patent No. 3,173,543. Bobbins B are carried on theconveyor belt 12 normal to the direction of movement of the belt betweencleat ice members 24 suitably connected to the belt 12. For reasonshereinafter set forth selected cleats 24 have apertures 26 providedtherein. Also for reasons set forth hereinafter certain recesses 28between the cleats 24 have been filled with a cleat member 30.

As indicated above bobbins B are conveyed from the bin 10 on upper beltportion 14 of the endless conveyor 12 between the cleats 24. Theconveyor then reverses direction and conveys the bobbins B toward thebin 10 with the bobbins B laying on the platform 20 in the recesses 28between the depending cleat members 24 to a plurality of dischargestations 22, only one of which is shown for the sake of illustration. Atthe discharge station the desired amount of bobbins B is automaticallydelivered from the lower belt portion 18 to the bobbin feed chute 32from which bobbins B are supplied to a transfer mechanism, not shown.From the transfer mechanism bobbins B are supplied to a receiving belt,not shown, in any suitable manner, such as that disclosed in US. PatentNo. 3,090,476, supra.

The chute 32 is defined by a pair of side plates 36 and 38 which can beintegral with or suitably connected to the side walls 40 of the conveyorsystem. The back of the chute 32 is formed by a sheet metal member 42connected between side walls 36 and 38 in any suitable manner. The frontportion of the chute 32 is formed by a pair of angle iron members 44riveted or otherwise secured to the side walls 36 and 38. Sheet metalmembers 42 and 44 are flared outwardly adjacent the conveyor 12 in orderto more readily accommodate bobbins dropped therein. Openings 48 and 50are provided in sheet metal member 42 to allow actuators 52 and 54 ofmicroswitches 56 and 58, respectively, to project therethrough forreasons hereinafter explained.

Mounted on each side of the conveyor belt 12 are motor driven gatemembers 60 and 61 to control the flow of bobbins into the chute 32 fromthe lower belt portion 18 of the conveyor 12. Suitably connected to sidewalls 40 are upstanding wall members 62 which support horizontallyextending platemember 64. Integrally connected to plate member 64 is anL-shaped motor support plate 66 (FIG- URE 1) on which is mounted motor68. Angle iron members 70 are welded or otherwise secured to wallmembers 62 and plate member 64 to provide rigidity thereto.

Gate members 60 and 61 are rotated in the direction indicated by arrowsthereon by motor 68 so that they rotate toward the direction of movementof the lower belt portion 18 of the conveyor belt 12 in order to lessenthe possibility of jamming a bobbin between the blades 72 of gate member60 or blades 74 of gate member 61 and the bobbin slot 76 cut out of thelower platform 20. To allow rotary movement of the gate members so thatthe blades 72 and 74 do not contact the lower platform 20 arcuateportions 78 and 80 are also cut out of the platform 20 to allow theblades to rotate in the indicated direction.

Gate members 60 and 61 are driven through shaft members 82 suitablyjournalled in plate member 64 and plate member 84 rigidly secured toupstanding wall members 62 by angle irons 86 welded or otherwise securedthereto. Rigidly attached to the top of each shaft 82 is a sprocketmember 87 suitably rotated by an endless chain member 88 driven bysprockets 90 and 91. Gate member 61 is rotated in a counterclockwisedirection directly from motor shaft 92 through sprocket 91 while gatemember 60 is rotated in a clockwise direction by motor shaft 92 throughsuitable gears 94 and 96.

To actuate the electrical circuit to the motor 68 a photocell 98 and alight source 100 are located upstream of the gate members. If theactuator 54 connected to microswitch 58 indicates a need for bobbins inthe chute 32, photocell 98 receives light from light source 100 atperiodic intervals through apertures 26 spaced along the certainpreselected recesses 28.

conveyor belt 12 and actuates the motor 68 to rotate gate members 60 and6 1 to allow bobbins to drop into the chute 32.

The location of the photocell 98, light source 1% and the apertures 26depends on the number of bobbins that you desire to drop into the chute32 at one time. In the preferred embodiment it is desired to drop threebobbins into the chute 32 at a time. To enhance this operation it ispreferred that each series of three bobbins be separated by a distanceapproximately equal to three cleats. As pointed out previously cleat 30was provided to fill The filling of such recesses provides thepreselected distance between each set of three bobbins. This preselectedclosed area allows time for the gate members 60 and 61 to rotate theblades out of the path of travel of bobbins falling through the slot 76in the platform 26 to alleviate the possibility of catching a bobbinbetween the blades and the conveyor belt 12. Further, this preselectedclosed area allows the gate members to close without jamming a bobbinwhich has been only partially dropped from the recesses 28 into thechute 32.

As previously pointed out an actuator 52 of microswitch 56 is providedin chute 32. In normal operation there will be suflicient bobbins in thechute 3:2 to maintain actuator 52 in the down position. If for somereason, such as a lack of a sufi icient number of bobbins in theconveyor 12, actuator 52 will rise to the position shown in FIGURE 1when the supply of bobbins in the chute is below the actuator 52,thereby breaking the circuit to the transfer mechanism and bobbinloading station drive means until such time that an additional supply ofbobbins is supplied to the chute 32 and closes actuator 52 due to theweight thereof.

It should be noted that blade members 72 on gate member 60 are Widerthan blade members 74 on gate member 61. In apparatus of this type thebobbins B are oriented prior to the discharge station 22 so that theylie parallel with all the large ends on the same side of the conveyor.Therefore, since in the illustrated embodiment the large ends of thebobbins are on the right hand side of the conveyor belt and the smallends on the left hand side, the blades 72 are larger than the blades 74so that the bobbin will be positioned properly and firmly in the bobbinrecess 28.

For reasons hereinafter explained a switch member 102 is rigidly mountedto the angle iron member 86 and is contacted by rivets or projections104 on each 180 rotation of the gate member 60. Rivets or projections104 are located above and in line with blades 72. Switch 102 is shown inoperative relationship with gate member 60 but obviously can be usedwith gate member 61, if desired.

Looking at the drawings and in particular to FIGURE the circuit diagramwill be explained initially when the chute 32 is full and the actuator54 is down due to the weight of bobbins thereon. Microswitch 58 willthen be in the open position as indicated in solid lines in FIGURE 5.The control relay coil .106 and the timer relay coil 108 will bede-energized, thereby maintaining the motor 68 de-energized. Stop switch110 will be open and timer relay 112 will be closed as indicated insolid lines. It can readily be seen that regardless of the lightimpulses received by the photocell 98 that the motor 68 will not beenergized to rotate the blades 72 and 74 to drop bobbins into the chute32. The blades 72 and 74 will therefore remain in the dotted lineposition shown in FIGURE 4.

Assume now that the bobbin level in the chute 32 drops below theactuator 54 allowing the actuator 54 to assume the solid line positionin FIGURE 1 so that the microsw-itch 58 will close assuming the dottedline position shown in FIGURE 5. The circuit in FIGURE 5 is now ready toactivate the motor 68 when the next light pulse from light source 100pulses the photocell 9% through the aperture 26 in the cleat 24.

When the next light pulse hits the photocell 98 the resistance of thedark resistant photocell 98 Will decrease, thereby completing thecircuit to line 1 14 through the photocell relay 11-5, therebyenergizing the control relay coil i196 and the timer relay coil 198 toclose control relay 1%? and open timer relay switch :112, therebyenergizing the motor 68 to initiate rotation of the gate members 60 and61. Gate members 60 and 61 will rotate 180 until switch member 192rotating therewith engages rivet member or projections 104 to open stopswitch i and tie-energize control relay coil 106 to open control relay107 and de-energize motor 68 and stop rotation of gate members 60 and 61if microswitch 58 is not closed by the demand actuator 54. If the demandactuator 54 is still in the up position as shown in FIGURE 1 calling formore bobbins the next light pulse will almost simultaneously re-energizethe motor to continue to rotate the gate members 66 and 61 until suchtime that the chute is full and the switch 102 can de-energize thecircuit by engaging the rivet or projection 104 to open the stop switch110.

The time delay switch 112 and the timer relay coil 168 are not necessarycomponents of the control circuit but are preferably used to providebetter control. The light pulse to the photocell is of a very shortduration and it has been found that the stop switch 110 couldde-energize the circuit to the motor 68 before it moved off the rivet orprojection 134 after the circuit was energized by the microswitch 58 andthe light pulse. Therefore, the time delay switch 112 is momentarilyheld in to by-pass the stop switch 110 in order to maintain the controlrelay 167 closed until the switch .102 has cleared the rivet orprojection i194 on its rotational path. Then the time delay switch willopen and stay open until the timer relay coil is de-energized by thestop switch 110.

It can readily be seen that the gate members 60 and 61 and associatedblades provide a windmill effect in that as one blade uncovers the slot76 the other blade is being rotated into position to close the slotafter a certain predetermined number of bobbins have fallentherethrough. As disclosed it is preferred to rotate the blades andtherefore only use two blades on each gate member. It is obvious,though, that other numbers of blades and corresponding angles ofrotation can be employed within the scope of the invention depending onthe speed of the conveyor belt 12 and the number of bobbins required.

The herein disclosed bobbin supply system operates efiiciently and witha minimum of supervision automatically maintains a supply of bobbins ina feed mechanism which is supplying such bobbins to an automatic loadingstation. Such disclosed apparatus has a minimum number of moving partswhich require very little maintenance and attention to maintain them inefficient Working condition. Furthermore, the herein disclosed system isinexpensive to manufacture, install and maintain.

Although I have described in detail the preferred embodiments of myinvention, I contemplate that many changes may be made without departingfrom the scope or spirit of my invention, and I desire to be limitedonly by the claims.

That which is claimed is:

1. A bobbin transfer mechanism comprising an endless belt having bobbinreceiving pockets on the outer surface thereof, means supplying bobbinsto said pockets, said belt having at least one run in which said pocketsopen downwardly, belt guiding means operably associated with said onerun and preventing said bobbins from dropping out of said downwardlyopening pockets, means forming an opening in said belt guiding means ofsufficient size to allow a bobbin to fall through, a gate memberrotatably supported adjacent said opening, said gate member having aplurality of blade members operably associated therewith with at leastone of said blade members being under said opening preventing bobbinsfrom falling through said opening from said one run, bobbin receivingand guiding means located below said opening, and means operablyassociated with said bobbin receiving and guiding means and said gatemember to rotate said blade member under said opening away from saidopening to allow bobbins to drop through said opening into said bobbinreceiving and guiding means in response to the level of bobbins in saidbobbin receiving and guiding means.

2. The structure of claim 1 wherein said means to rotate said gatemember includes a means to deactivate said means to rotate said gatemember when said gate member has rotated through a predetermined angleand said bobbin receiving and guiding means does not require furtherbobbins.

3. The structure of claim 2 wherein one of said plurality of blades willbe located under said opening when said means to rotate said gate memberis deactivated.

4. The structure of claim 1 wherein means operably associated with saidbobbin receiving means and gate member includes a photocell and lightsource.

5. The structure of claim 4 wherein said pockets are formed by cleatmembers spaced from one another on said endless belt, means formingapertures through certain preselected cleat members, said photocellbeing mounted on one side of said cleat members and said light sourcebeing mounted on the other side of said cleat members in line with said.photocell whereby a light beam from said light source will pulse saidphotocell when said apertures in said cleat members pass therebetween.

6. A bobbin transfer mechanism comprising: an endless belt, meansforming pockets on the outer surface of said endless belt, meanssupplying bobbins to said pockets, said belt having at least one run insaid pockets opening downwardly, belt guiding means operably associatedwith said one run and preventing said bobbins from dropping out of saiddownwardly opening pockets, means forming an opening in said beltguiding means of sufiicient size to allow a bobbin to fall therethrough,a first gate member rotatably mounted on one side of said endless beltadjacent said opening, a second gate member rotatably mounted on theother side of said endless belt adjacent said opening, each of saidg-ate members having a plurality of blade members attached thereto, eachgate member having at least one of blade members projecting under therespective portion of said opening adjacent thereto to prevent bobbinsfrom falling therethrough, bobbin receiving and guiding means mountedbelow said gate members, drive means operably associated with said gatemembers to rotate said gate members, and control means operablyassociated with said drive means to rotate said gate members to allowbobbins to drop through said opening in response to the level of bobbinsin said bobbin receiving and guiding means.

7. The structure of claim 6 wherein said drive means when actuatedrotates said gate members in the direction of travel of said endlessbelt.

8. The structure of claim 6 wherein said control includes a detectingmeans in operative relationship with said bobbin receiving and guidingmeans to detect the absence of bobbins in a certain predetermined areaof said bobbin receiving and guiding means, and further includes anactuating means to actuate said drive means to rotate said gate memberswhen said detecting means has detected the absence of bobbins.

9. The structure of claim 8 wherein said actuating means is a photocelland light source.

10. The structure of claim 9 wherein said pockets are formed by cleatmembers spaced from one another on said endless belt, means formingapertures through certain preselected cleat members, said photocellbeing mounted on one side of said cleat members and said light sourcebeing mounted on the other side of said cleat members in line with saidphotocell whereby a light beam from said light source will pulse saidphotocell when said apertures in said cleat members pass therebetween.

11. The structure of claim 10 wherein said control means furtherincludes a stop means to deactivate said drive means when said gatemembers have rotated through a predetermined angle and said detectingmeans is not detecting a need for bobbins in said bobbin guiding andreceiving means.

12. The structure of claim 11 wherein one of said plurality of blades oneach of said gate members will be under the respective side of saidopening when said drive means is deactivated.

13. The structure of claim 12 wherein the blades attached to said firstgate member are wider than the blades attached to said second gatemember.

14. The structure of claim 13 wherein said drive means a rotates both ofsaid gate members toward the direction of travel of the portion of saidendless belt adjacent thereto.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,777,269 9/ 1930Webber.

2,141,044 12/1938 Rassmann 198-140 2,402,144 6/1946 Baker 198-202,572,164 10/ 1951 Lehmann 19826 2,889,073 6/1959 Nogle 221-10 2,902,186'10/ 1959 Pollmann 22110 2,969,883 1/1961 Cargill et al. 193-40X3,055,481 10/ 1962 Austin 19840 EVON C. BLUNK, Primary Examiner.

HUGO O. SCHULZ, Examiner.

R. WALKER, Assistant Examiner.

1. A BOBBIN TRANSFER MECHANISM COMPRISING AN ENDLESS BELT HAVING BOBBINRECEIVING POCKETS ON THE OUTER SURFACE THEREOF, MEANS SUPPLYING BOBBINSTO SAID POCKETS, SAID BELT HAVING AT LEAST ONE RUN IN WHICH SAID POCKETSOPEN DOWNWARDLY, BELT GUIDING MEANS OPERABLY ASOCIATED WITH SAID ONE RUNAND PREVENTING SAID BOBBINS FROM DROPPING OUT OF SAID DOWNWARDLY OPENINGPOCKETS, MEANS FORMING AN OPENING IN SAID BELT GUIDING MEANS OFSUFFICIENT SIZE TO ALLOW A BOBBIN TO FALL THROUGH, A GATE MEMBERROTATABLY SUPPORTED ADJACENT SAID OPENING, SAID GATE MEMBER HAVING APLURALITY OF BLADE MEMBERS OPERABLY ASSOCIATED THEREWITH WITH AT LEASTONE OF SAID BLADE MEMBERS BEING UNDER SAID OPENING PREVENTING BOBBINSFROM FALLING THROUGH SAID OPENING FROM SAID ONE RUN, BOBBIN RECEIVINGAND GUIDING MEANS LOCATED BELOW SAID OPENING,